NCERT English Class 6 | Chapter 4 | An Indian-American Women in Space: Kalpana Chawla | Question Answer |

WORKING WITH THE TEXT                                                                        PAGE 50

A.      Answer the following questions.

1. Where was Kalpana Chawla born? Why is she called an Indian – American? (3)

Answer: She was born in Karnal, a city in Haryana. She married an American and became a naturalised citizen, so she is called an Indian-American.

2. When and why did she go to the U.S.? Who did she marry? (2, 3)

Answer: After completing her bachelor’s degree in aeronautical engineering, she went to the U.S. for a master’s degree in aerospace engineering. She married Jean-Pierre Harrison, a flight instructor.

3. How did she become an astronaut? What gave her the idea that she could be an astronaut? (3)

Answer: When she qualified as a pilot, she got an idea to be an astronaut. She was ready for her next challenge and applied to NASA for a space shuttle program. She was selected for training as an astronaut at NASA in 1994.

4. What abilities must an astronaut have, according to the journalist? (6)

Answer: According to the journalist, an astronaut must know anything from biology to astrophysics to aeronautical engineering. In this age of super-specialisation, you must have an encyclopaedic knowledge to be an astronaut.

5. Describe Kalpana Chawla’s first mission in space. (5)

Answer: Space shuttle Columbia was her first mission in space. It was nearly a 16 days program in which she went around the earth 252 times. There were seven crew members in this mission including a Japanese and a Ukrainian astronaut. They performed eighty different experiments such as pollinating plants, faster computer chips, etc. All activities were of a price tag of 56 million dollars.

6. What does Kalpana Chawla say about pursuing a dream? Do you agree with her that success is possible? (7)

Answer: Like anyone else, Kalpna also had dreams. Despite being a girl from a small city, she followed her dreams, pursued her master’s and Ph.D. to touch the sky. In the message from space to the students of her college in Chandigarh, she said, “The path from dreams to success does exist. May you have the vision to find it, the courage to get it onto it….. Wishing you a great journey.”
Yes, success is possible, I agree with her.

B.      Read the newspaper report to find the following facts about Columbia's ill-fated voyage.

Answer:

l. Date and place of lift-off: ———(January 16, 2003; Kennedy Space Center, Florida)——

2. Number of astronauts on board: ———(Seven)———

3. Number of days it stayed in space: ———(Sixteen)———

4. Number of experiments done by scientists: ———(Eighty)———

5. Date of return journey: ———(February 1, 2003)———

6. Height at which it lost contact: ———(200,000 feet)———

WORKING WITH LANGUAGE                                                                      PAGE 51

A.      Match the following.

Answer.

unprecedented space tragedy	a sad accident of a kind that has never happened before in space
certified flight instructor	a person with the correct qualification to teach people to fly planes
space mission	a set of jobs to be done in space by a group
super specialisation	great expertise in a limited field or a particular subject
encyclopaedic knowledge	having knowledge of a wide variety of subjects
awe-inspiring	something that causes feelings of respect and wonder
in this age	nowadays, in these times

 

B.      Use these phrases in sentences of your own, after finding out their meanings.

Answer:

1. broke apart - (break violently, separated into pieces)

My phone broke apart when it slipped from my hand. 

2. streaked over – (went over or moved across quickly)

A meteor streaked over the cloud in the night.

3. spread across – (distributed over a particular area)

The flu spread across the college campus.

4. lifted off  - (started flying, from a launching site)

The helicopter lifted off the helipad with two passengers.

5. blast off – (take off noisily)

The rocket blasted off at 02:30 am sharp.

6. went on – (continued)

He went on playing chess the whole day.

7. cheered along – (encouraged)

All the players were cheered along by their fans.

8. On board – (inside the plan, participation)

The ship had nearly 500 passengers on board. Students were on board for the picnic.

9. carry on – (continue doing something)

Doctors carried on their practices.

C.      We add ‘un-’ to make opposites.

For example, true — untrue.

Add ‘un’– to the words below to make their opposites. Then look up the meanings of the words you have formed in the dictionary.

Answer:

l. identified ———(unidentified)——   6. educated —(uneducated)—

 

2. controlled ———(uncontrolled)—— 7. Interesting_(uninteresting)—

 

3. attended ———(unattended)———  8. qualified —(unqualified)—

 

4. successful ———(unsuccessful)—— 9. trained —(untrained)———

5. important ———(unimportant)—— 10. answerable —(unanswerable)–

WRITING                                                                                                         PAGE 53

B.      Given below are some words that are spelt differently in British and American English. Fill in the blanks accordingly.

Answer:

British	American
Colour	Color
Labour	Labor
Traveller	Traveler
Counsellor	Counselor
Centre	Center
Theatre	Theater
Organise	Organize
Realise	Realize
Defence	Defense
Offence	Offense

Poem: Beauty                         By E-Yeh-Shure

WORKING WITH THE POEM                                                                           Page 55

1.       The poet says, “Beauty is heard in …”

Can you hear beauty? Add a sound that you think is beautiful to the sounds the poet thinks are beautiful.

The poet, Keats, said:

Heard melodies are sweet,

But those unheard are sweeter.

What do you think this means? Have you ever ‘heard’ a song in your head, long after the song was sung or played?

Answer: Yes, I hear the beauty of chirping the birds in the morning.

Here, the poet says that when we hear or listen to songs, their melodies are sweet. However, when we imagine the melodies after hearing the songs, we find some unheard melodies which are even sweeter than the original melodies.

I do hear some songs in my head, even after the songs were played.

2.       Read the first and second stanzas of the poem again. Note the following phrases.

corn growing, people working or dancing, wind sighing, rain falling, a singer chanting

These could be written as

• corn that is growing

• people who are working or dancing

Can you rewrite the other phrases like this? Why do you think the poet uses the shorter phrases?

Answer: Yes, I can rewrite the other phrases as –

·         Wind that is sighing

·         Rain that is falling

·         A singer who is chanting

The poet uses the shorter phrases to make a poem more beautiful or rhythmic.

1. Who Did Patrick's Homework? ; A House; A Home Question Answer	2. How the Dog Found Himself a New Master! ; The Kite Question Answer
3. Taro's Reward; The Quarrel Question Answer	4. An Indian- American Woman in Space: Kalpana Chawla; Beauty Question Answer
5. A Different Kind of School; Where Do All the Teachers Go? Question Answer	6. Who I Am; The Wonderful Words Question Answer
7. Fair Play Question Answer	8. A Game of Chance; Vocation Question Answer
9. Desert Animals; Whatif Question Answer	10. The Banyan Tree Question Answer